My work, reasons behind it and what happens to it.

Last night, while we were at our work Christmas meal, I checked twitter to see if the Turner Prize winner had been announced.

Seeing that it had and informing the others, there was a whoop of joy and a shout of ‘WE WON!!!’, causing the other diners in the restaurant to stare at us.

Of course, we personally hadn’t won – but it felt like it. A few of our friends and work colleagues had answered the call out in summer, for artists and people with skills who had connections with Granby street in Liverpool, to work with Assemble.

Two of them had travelled up to Glasgow yesterday to  attend the ceremony at Tramway.

So , well actually Yes – it felt like WE won. We feel part of that community and are hugely proud of the achievement.

Last week, four of us went up to check out the exhibition space at the Unity Theatre in Liverpool, to work out where all of our work can be placed.

The exhibition starts on 12th January, but we’d booked it way back at the beginning of summer – and then it was only through a tip off of a gap in the programme from someone who works there.

It really is good to start off the New Year with an exhibition – otherwise, I always go into that panic mode of OMG, I haven’t planned anything (which is silly really as I thought that at the beginning of this year, but things just fell into place- as they (nearly) always do )

Of course, it isn’t important to keep exhibiting, but for me personally, it puts me in the right frame of mind for the rest of the year – I can see a body of work in a different setting, so I can visualise which direction to move on to.

This one does cause a few problems for me though… because as I’m taking time off (unpaid leave) from mid January, my work rota is pretty much set before then.  I can’t be there to install…and I can’t do the private view . If it was a solo exhibition, that would be a disaster, but as its a group, I’ll have to rely on the others.

The space was smaller than I’d first thought, so I’ve completely changed my mind over what to show. It was going to be a series of framed works (my new ceramic pieces) but instead, I’ll work with the quirkiness of the building – the odd little gaps and ledges, where I can install small installations.

I think this will alleviate some of the install problems too – I don’t have to compete for wall space with the others, so I can just go in one evening and put my work in away from the actual install day.

So much to think about before then…  but as always, I’ve made a list so that I can prioritise. (Should it worry me that my own work appears well below cleaning the house, getting the Christmas decorations up, and making a start in writing the cards on the list ?? :-( )

Its the first of the work Christmas nights out tonight, so it’ll be good to switch off for a bit :-)